A leftist's guide to the conservative movement, one podcast episode at a time, with co-hosts Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell.
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Manvir Singh Podcasts
Stimulating conversations for the Punjabi diaspora; Hosts Manvir Singh, Herman Singh, and Arjun Singh discuss important topics in the Punjabi community catered to the current generation.
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Tangentially Speaking is dedicated to the idea that good conversation is organic, uncensored, revelatory, and free to go down unexpected paths with unconventional people. chrisryan.substack.com
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An exiled Northern Irish anthropologist and a hitchhiking Australian psychologist take a close look at the contemporary crop of 'secular gurus', iconoclasts, and other exiles from the mainstream, offering their own brands of unique takes and special insights. Leveraging two of the most diverse accents in modern podcasting, Chris and Matt dig deep into the claims, peek behind the psychological curtains, and try to figure out once and for all... What's it all About? Join us, as we try to puzzl ...
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This is a podcast for people who are curious about the world and themselves featuring talks and conversations presented by the Public Programs department of California Institute of Integral Studies, a non-profit university in San Francisco. Listen here or on your favorite podcast app to a diverse array of visionaries, artists, and scholars sharing compelling experiences, offering new perspectives, and expanding creative horizons.
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Dr. Manvir Singh: Understanding Shamanism
1:06:39
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1:06:39Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description.*This is the CIIS Public Programs Podcast, featuring talks and conversations recorded live by California Institute of Integral Studies, a non-profit university located in San Francisco on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone …
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Does raging against the machine serve as a distraction from trying to control or unplug the machine? Gender reveal parties don’t reveal gender! Cameron Shayne's inspirational visit. My three-day fast. Did my dad give up or was he just tired?…
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The Furious Minds of MAGA (w/ Laura Field)
1:09:36
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1:09:36Laura K. Field's Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, published earlier this month, is a book we simply had to discuss. Listeners to this podcast will recognize its cast of characters—conservative intellectuals like Patrick Deneen, Michael Anton, John Eastman, Adrian Vermeule, and Harry Jaffa, among others—whose ideas and influence Fiel…
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Stefan Molyneux, Part 1: A fun guy, who is here to help...
3:03:42
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3:03:42Welcome back to Cult Season, where we continue our sincere attempt to make you feel a little bit worse about the world and everything in it. This week, we turn to Stefan Molyneux, online pioneer, prolific content creator, and self-proclaimed most popular philosopher in the world. Alternatively his wikipedia entry describes him as "an Irish-born Can…
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Autism, Microbiomes, & Mice Burying Marbles with Kevin Mitchell
1:26:49
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1:26:49This week, we are joined by Kevin Mitchell, Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, who has committed the unforgivable sin of pointing out that an entire academic and media hype cycle might be built on… well, very little actually. His new co-authored paper in Neuron politely dismantles the highly promoted link be…
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Trump's Big, Beautiful Ballroom (w/ Kate Wagner) [Teaser]
4:27
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4:27Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. If there's a Trump-era topic that manages to fascinate without being entirely depressing, it's probably the ongoing arguments about architecture that his ascension has occasioned. Proponents of a RETVRN to the architectural ideals of ancient Greece and Rome are …
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685 - Kyle Thiermann, author of One Last Question Before You Go
1:54:28
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1:54:28An award-winning journalist, pro big wave surfer, and podcast host with more than four hundred episodes, Kyle Thiermann is a good friend and long-time tangentialista. His first book is called One Last Question Before You Go: Why You Should Interview Your Parents. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get …
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Zohran, the Jews, and Reckoning with Gaza (w/ Peter Beinart)
1:14:27
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1:14:27This episode isn't focused on a single topic or text, but rather just wanting to have a wide-ranging conversation with our guest, Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and author of the recent book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. We start by discussing the appalling wave of Islamophobic attacks against Zohran M…
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Right to Reply: A Dialogos about Sensemaking with Alexander Beiner
1:12:10
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1:12:10We are joined by Alexander Beiner, current founder of Kainos and former co-founder of Rebel Wisdom, to grapple with that eternally slippery concept: sensemaking. Naturally, this leads us through interdisciplinary adventurism, reflections on the (il)legitimacy of academia, and the recurring “meaning crisis” that haunts our times. Sense will be made,…
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This is a different kind of episode than is typical; there's no book, no central text, not even a single, central event that guides the conversation. Instead, we begin with a few recent news items—speculation about Trump 2028, Speaker Mike Johnson's refusal to swear in a Democratic congresswoman, the stunning abdication of Congress as the shutdown …
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Supplementary Material 39: Bad Guys, Panpsychists, and Sensemakers
37:58
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37:58Chris and Matt walk into a bar with an atheist sensemaker, an Ayurvedic Guru, and a Christian Apologist, and predictable frivolities ensue. Featuring not one but two good-natured, robust exchanges of opinion between our two hosts. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 42 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/Decoding…
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684 - Gabe Polsky (Filmmaker: The Man Who Saves the World?)
1:20:24
1:20:24
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1:20:24This one happened fast. A week ago, a publicist reached out to ask if I’d possibly be interested in helping to promote a documentary about a guy (a white guy) who thinks he’s supposed to bring together the native people of South and North America — whose combined teachings will then spread across the planet and save us all. My first impression was …
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683 - Before the Dawn, with Riley Morton (Part 4 of 4)
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4:00This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com In this last episode of the series, Riley Morton and I talk about the period beginning when I chose to write about prehistoric human sexuality in graduate school through the writing and publishing of Sex at Dawn. It gets personal. I talk about how some of my own se…
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Required Readings: The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis
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16:44In another exciting Required Reading episode, Chris and Matt offer their penetrating, high IQ thoughts on the latest book by journalist and podcast quizmaster, Helen Lewis. Titled 'The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters, and Rule Breakers', the book tears into some of the long-enduring myths surrounding historical and contemporar…
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Discussing Nazis and Gurus with Al Murray
1:07:17
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1:07:17We welcome Al Murray, the comedian who might just be your new favourite historian, to Decoding the Gurus. In a crossover you probably didn’t expect, we discuss World War II, Wehraboos, gurus, and the contemporary comedy scene... something for all the family. Along the way, we touch on British nostalgia, military fetishism, and self-styled “truth te…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Words that mean both what they mean and the opposite of what they mean. Early days of learning Spanish and the psychological repercussions of not knowing exactly what you’re saying. When philosophy conflicts with reality. Open borders. “The past was horrible!”…
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Keith Raniere: The Serpent and the Cognitive Fog
3:08:49
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3:08:49Kicking off cult season, Chris and Matt take a dip into the manipulative world of NXIVM founder and self-proclaimed 200-IQ “Vanguard,” Keith Raniere, as he talks with his then-disciple and ex-Hollywood actress, Allison Mack. Through a haze of pseudo-profound musings and decorative scholarship, Raniere sermonises on creativity, authenticity, and the…
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Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. The theme of this rank punditry episode is Getting in Trouble on the Internet, and we begin with the frankly unsurprising story of the Young Republican Hitler group chats, then move on to a longer discussion about Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Main…
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Tom Murphy is a recovering astrophysicist. After spending the first part of his life learning the language of physics and mathematics, Tom started hearing a deeper message concerning our responsibility to the planet. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.subst…
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Lab Leak Fever with Philipp Markolin
1:13:43
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1:13:43Join Matt and Chris as they dive into the controversy-ridden world of the lab leak theory, accompanied by biochemist-turned-author Philipp Markolin. Philipp details his journey into the abyss of lab leak lore and sensationalist media, documenting how thorough research was pushed aside in favour of conspiratorial discourse. For those who dream of a …
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How Charles Murray (Almost) Predicted the Trump Era
1:32:56
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1:32:56This episode is the second in our occasional series on important, controversial, or unusually relevant conservative texts from the recent past. Here we take up Charles Murray's 2012 book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. With its focus on the ascendence of a new "cognitive elite," cultural divides, and the pathologies afflicting…
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Supplementary Material 38: Toxic Mould Symbiosis, Mild Phrenology, and the Best People in the World
49:51
49:51
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49:51We end the futile struggle, embrace the toxins, and become one with our mould brethren. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 38 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 38 00:00 Intro 02:54 Boomer Matt reacts to Twitter videos 07:31 Shellenberger and Tucker discuss the 9/11 File…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com This one gets very personal. Riley and I talk about how my own erotic journey informed my doctoral research and what eventually became Sex at Dawn. We cover everything from my first heartbreak when my first girlfriend went off to college (and I stayed in high schoo…
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Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Before embarking on a spirited bout of rank punditry, we take a step back and talk about the Staple Singers, Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Zohran, and giving a damn about both your "fellow man" and democracy. The…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com What the hell is going on? Why does the mainstream narrative seem to be increasingly unbelievable? Is decency outdated? Why were Paul Newman and Robert Redford important? Is the future female? Is competence necessary to run a country?…
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John J. Prendergast: On Opening Your Deepest Ground
1:05:10
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1:05:10Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description.*In Dr. John J. Prendergast’s decades of experience as a psychotherapist and spiritual teacher, the area of the body that’s most difficult for people to connect with—given our survival fear and trauma—is our physi…
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678 - Tom Murphy (Recovering Astrophysicist)
1:34:45
1:34:45
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1:34:45Tom is a fascinating man. He’s shot lasers at the moon and measured their reflection. After studying astrophysics at Cal Tech he taught at UCSD for years. But there came a point where his awareness of the destructiveness of the machine made it impossible to keep making adjustments to its smooth functioning. Unlike many people confronted with that c…
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Death, Power, and the Charlie Kirk Memorial (w/ Pat Blanchfield)
1:26:21
1:26:21
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1:26:21To try to understand both the power and strangeness of the Charlie Kirk memorial—one part evangelical worship service, one part MAGA rally—we turned, of course, to our friend Pat Blanchfield. All three of us stewed in the event's footage, which runs to over four and a half hours, then convened to discuss it. After laying out for listeners what happ…
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A Sense-Making Odyssey, Part 2: Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke & Jordan Hall
2:36:42
2:36:42
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2:36:42Matt and Chris once again take up their oars and plunge deeper into the recursive whirlpools of contemporary sensemaking. Picking up where Part 1 left off, having grappled with conscience, touchstones, hierarchies, and normativity, we return to the sensemaking labyrinth to see just how many more words and concepts the combined powers of Peterson, V…
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Lloyd is one of the most curious, delighted, resilient people I’ve ever known. In his ninety years, he’s been a father, husband, builder, publisher, traveler, writer, athlete and a slew of other things, including a very good friend to many, including Anya and me. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get …
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Supplementary Material 37: Public Murder Discourse, Heterodox Psychodramas, and Generous Tit for Tat-ers
41:48
41:48
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41:48Why are we never invited to these dinners? We wonder if it was something we said or if our invitation just got lost in the mail, as we endure the inevitable discourse wave that followed in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGur…
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Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. The assassination of Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, seemed to change the landscape of American politics in an instant, inspiring a startlingly unanimous battlecry of vengeance from the conservative movement, the GOP, and the Trump…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com How was Charlie Kirk the same as the people who hated him most? What’s the dangerous appeal of simplicity and clarity in a complex world? Can/should we tolerate intolerance? The trick of valuing the things we DON’T have or need. All this and more!…
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The Case for Democracy (w/ Osita Nwanevu)
1:20:27
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1:20:27Since the start of the Trump Era over a decade ago, few words have been deployed as often as "democracy": how it's become imperiled, who threatens it, and what to do to defend it. In The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, Osita Nwanevu sets out to understand the true meaning of democracy and defend it from its …
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A Sense-Making Odyssey, Part 1: Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke & Jordan Hall
2:15:09
2:15:09
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2:15:09Join Matt and Chris as they enter an intellectual labyrinth of recursive sensemaking featuring the combined insights of Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, and Jordan Hall. You will learn about many, many deep and complex concepts and puzzle over definitions of conscience, the vertical hierarchy, value, normativity, goals & ideals, quests, the ultimate…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com What happens to famous people who get lost in their own show and gradually start playing themselves in the movie of their lives?By Chris Ryan
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An Officer and a Spy (w/ John Ganz) [Teaser]
3:48
3:48
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3:48Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Roman Polanski's 2019 film about the Dreyfus affair, An Officer and a Spy, only recently made it's U.S. "premier," running for a few weeks in August at Film Forum in New York City. When it originally was released, it couldn't find an American distributor (and li…
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We are living in a world where the depths of division, violence, and destruction can no longer be ignored. Escalated forms of harm require an equally escalated response. Yet social movements often use tactics that tend to escalate an “us vs. them,” “right vs. wrong” worldview not conducive to healing. Activist, trainer, and practitioner of nonviole…
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674 - Dan Blumstein (Author: The Nature of Fear)
1:19:17
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1:19:17Dan Blumstein and I explore the multifaceted nature of fear, its evolutionary significance, and its impact on both human and animal behavior. The conversation also delves into existential fears, the manipulation of fear by society, and the importance of understanding and managing fear in a complex world. Dan’s book is The Nature of Fear. This is a …
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673 - Student Loan Justice (Alan Collinge)
1:14:53
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1:14:53Alan Collinge is the founder of StudentLoanJustice.Org, author of The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History and How We Can Fight Back. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe…
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Supplementary Material 36: Comedy Cults, Toxic Mould, and WW2 Revisionism
45:37
45:37
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45:37We risk contamination with toxic mould, endure distressing initiation rituals to a comedy cult, and ponder if the narratives we have received about the Nazis have enough nuance. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 36 00:00 Introductio…
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Frank Meyer, Inventor of Conservatism (w/ Daniel J. Flynn)
1:45:13
1:45:13
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1:45:13Devoted Know Your Enemy listeners will recall that, in November 2021, we released a fairly dense, theory-driven episode on Frank Meyer, the Communist from New Jersey whose exploits on behalf of the Party in the UK got him kicked out of the country and back to the United States, where he eventually turned right and became a key figure in the post-wa…
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Are we (am I) “stuck in honoring the context of the social media platform,” that is podcasting? Is there a way not to be trapped in playing the commercial game? Did Joe and Duncan sell out, or did their platforms just capture them? I discuss some of the accusations leveled in “Comedy Jonestown” and Marc Maron’s recent appearance on Pod Save America…
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The Christian Right's "Wild Faith" (w/ Talia Lavin) [Unlocked]
1:00:48
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1:00:48This episode was first published in October 2024, and has been un-paywalled following the death this week, on August 21, of Focus on the Family founder and influential figure on the religious right, James Dobson, at age 89. Subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to hear more episodes just for subscribers. In this episode, Matt is joined by journal…
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Supplementary Material 35: Cult Leaders, Gurus, and Evil Economists
29:43
29:43
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29:43We face a disciplinary crisis as the twin pillars of Game Theory and Gurometry are called into question. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 35 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 35 00:05 Introduction 01:52 Matt's Apology 06:55 Just Life... 12:34 Matt's Foodie Corner 14:01…
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The Minority Voters Moving Right (w/ Daniel Martinez HoSang)
1:27:05
1:27:05
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1:27:05A major topic following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election has been his gains with racial and ethnic minorities, a trend that's scrambled many people's assumptions about American politics, not least those of anti-racist liberals. Why have minority voters drifted toward Trump, despite his many comments and campaign pledges that…
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Naval Ravikant: Predictable Polemics and Empty Aphorisms
3:08:40
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3:08:40In this watery simulation of an episode, Matt and Chris uncover the true purpose of Scott Adams’ existence: not to shape reality, but to provide training data for future AIs working on plumbing-related problems. Somewhere in a cosmic server farm, Scott is endlessly confronted with blocked drains, dripping faucets, and municipal water conspiracies, …
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Mike just finished his stint in the army and is celebrating by riding a bicycle from El Paso to Canada. He passed by Crestone recently, and we sat down to get to know each other. Pull up a chair and join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/s…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com More blathering. This time, talking about: — Epstein and how fame/power/money distort one’s sense of the possible/permissible; — The joys of watching the Little League playoffs; — A friend’s hard fall. Here’s the link to give Charles some love.…
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From Armageddon to Zionism — More Listener Questions [Teaser]
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4:59Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. Our mailbag runneth over! Unsurprisingly, we received so many excellent questions from subscribers for our most recent episode that we decided to answer even more of them. Once again religion seemed to be on the minds of listeners, and we take up charismatic Chr…
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